


Loss

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Angst, Episode: s03e21 Before and After, F/M, Ficlet, Grief/Mourning, Prompt Fic, Vignette, Writer's Month 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26019727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Harry Kim outlives his beloved Linnis, just as Tom Paris outlived Kes.Tagged "Major Character Death" because this is the "Before and After" timeline, where the Year of Hell didn't get reset away.
Relationships: Harry Kim/Linnis Paris, Kes/Tom Paris
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Loss

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2020, Day 20. The prompt is "loss."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

After the funeral, Harry fell apart. He hurt so much he wasn't sure he could live through it. He barely knew where he was, or what he was doing. He lay on the couch in his quarters, wondering if he could ever bear to sleep in the bed he'd shared with Linnis again.

Eventually, he realized the door chime was sounding. Before he could decide what to do about it, the door slid open and Tom came in. Harry sat up. "Am I late for my shift?" he asked, suddenly worried that he'd neglected something important. "Where are the kids?"

"The captain gave you a week off," Tom said. "We're in a really quiet section of space right now, so don't feel you have to report for duty unless you want to. The kids are with Andrew. And Neelix will be happy to take them if Andrew needs a break."

Harry slumped back on the couch. "Sorry. You told me that before, didn't you?"

Tom sat down beside him. "It's all right. I know you have a lot on your mind now." He held up a bottle. "I thought we'd have our own private wake."

Harry was pretty sure the last thing he needed now was alcohol. Tom read the look on his face. "It's just synth, don't worry." He got up and fetched a couple of glasses from Harry's cupboard, then settled back on the couch. "How are you doing, Har?"

"Not good," Harry admitted, and immediately regretted it. Tom must be hurting as much or more. Linnis was his daughter. You weren't supposed to outlive your daughter.

He thought about his children. Andrew, already grown. Lanna, nearly grown. Elrem, still a small child, but probably not for much longer. Harry would probably outlive them, as Tom had outlived Linnis. Of course he'd always known that. Clearly, Ocampan genes were dominant. Linnis, like her mother, reached adulthood in only a few months. His own children also had sharply abbreviated childhoods, though they were only a quarter Ocampan.

"How do you do it?" Harry asked Tom. "It must be so much worse for you." And there had also been Kes. And B'Elanna. So many losses.

Tom draped an arm over Harry's shoulders. "I do it because it's worth it. You can't go through life avoiding love because you're afraid you'll be hurt when it ends. Every love is going to end eventually."

"Thanks. I think."

Tom filled their glasses. "I don't regret a minute of it, Harry, and you won't, either."

"I just wish we had more time," Harry said.

"You'd think that no matter how much time you had," Tom said.

Harry couldn't deny that. No matter how much time he had with Linnis, it wouldn't be enough. "I suppose Vulcans must pity us for our brief, mayfly lives."

"There's an old saying: 'Life is short, but it's wide.' Linnis' life was very, very wide, and you were a big part of that, Harry. Remember that." 

"We had a good life together," Harry said, taking some comfort from the thought. He raised his glass. "To absent friends."


End file.
